GeneralDisorder

What does the chart on the can say the pressure should be? System pressure is very dependant on ambient air temp.... It could still be borderline and the pressure switch in the system is cutting off the compressor. Check the pressure more carefully with an eye toward the ambient temp, evaporator temp (air coming from the vents) and with a chart for R134A such as this one: http://www.ackits.com/aacf/ptchart.cfm GD

He's not talking about lug studs - he's talking about cylinder head studs. Legacy's (EJ'sa across the board) use bolts. IIRC the EA81 studs are too short. GD

In the SPFI's you have to swap the ECU. As I said there is a pin that either needs to be grounded or open to tell the EJ's ECU it's running a manual trans. Check the schematics over on Numchux site and see if you can determine the pin that is responsible. GD

You need to put non-foulers on all sensors that are after a cat. And it looks like you need new sensors. After 100k they should likely be replaced anyhow. Change the front sensors first then if the code still returns change the rears also. GD

The black wire on the VSS needs to be grounded I beleive - if it is not already through the CC system (if equipped). You sure the ECU doesn't think it's in an automatic? I've had similar effects when mistakenly using auto ECU's on SPFI conversions. I beleive there is a grounded or ungrounded pin that tells the ECU what type it is on the EJ's.... GD

You are absolutely correct - cleanliness is why I and many others will ONLY do them with the engine out. It adds about 1 to 2 hours to the job total but results in a much better job. I pull the engine, steam clean it, drain all fluids, and reassemble on a proper engine stand. Then I steam clean the engine bay, reseal the oil seperator plate on the back of the engine, and install with everything clean and shiny and ready to go. It's not a matter of making more money - the engine pull itself is very easy and will actually SAVE labor in difficult dissasembly, reassembly, and cleaning. Plus with the vertical block surfaces it is very difficult to properly clean them or prevent coolant, etc from running out of the block while doing the reassembly. There's very good reasons for why those of us that do this all the time do it the way we do. Head bolts do not need to be replaced. They are not a torque-to-yeild design. Burned exhaust valves can and do happen when the valve lash is not adjusted properly. I've seen 1/4" holes burned in them with zero compression on that cylinder. I've seen it at 169k and on a solid-lifter 2.2 at 199k. The DOHC heads like to eat up their guides as well.... Typically I have the valves ground, the head resurfaced and new stem seals installed. Runs about $500 for the DOHC heads and about $175 for the SOHC heads. I do a lot of engine work and I've not had a single failure with my system. GD

Yes - that's the older style. You need a cable for an '82. Your cable is improperly routed over the steering shaft and the heater core hoses. That's the reason for it's failure. Someone didn't know what they were doing. GD

Yeah - I would also guess knock sensor. I was thinking you were showing an EA82 block and they look different. The EA81T is very primitive so that makes sense GD

When you replace the cable: 1. Get it from the dealer - they are much higher quality 2. Route it under BOTH the steering shaft and the heater core hoses. 3. '83 is a cross-over year for clutch cable type. Make sure you know which one you have. The older style has a clamp with a single bolt to secure the sheath on the pedal end while the newer style has the same type of setup on the pedal side as it does on the transmission end - using a horseshoe clip to secure the sheath. It is important that you buy the right cable - if you have the older style ask for a cable for an '82. GD

The Fel-Pro stuff is crap for Subaru's. Great stuff for my SBC.... worthless on a Subaru. There really aren't a lot of gaskets anyway - intake, exhaust, HG, valve cover.... everything else is a seal, an o-ring, or RTV. Get all your gaskets through the dealer. Seals and o-rings you can go aftermarket if you choose. But the big 4 that I mentioned above are never a qualit product if you don't buy them from Subaru. GD

If you can post a picture I can tell you where it should go. GD

I agree with this being a question that isn't answerable - it's about skill more than anything. I will tell you that most painters do not enjoy spraying the metallic's that Subaru likes to use in it's stock colors. They tend to either go on dry and dusty, or they go on too thick and the metal flake lays out like hammerite and looks like crap. So most end up spraying it dry and dusty and then clear coating it to make it look shiny. I didn't want to shoot clear on the last touch-up job I did (I hate painting) and so I color-sanded it and buffed it. Looked fine but it was a $1500 car.... it was better than the peeling clear-coat that it had before I started. GD

I have personally seen cases where the head gaskets WERE blown and for whatever reason the HC test strips, etc failed to indicate it. Take it from someone that's seen this more times than I can count - if it's not the radiator cap - you DO need head gaskets. GD

The coolant overflowing from the expansion bottle can only be one of two things - either the head gasket is beginning to go, or the radiator cap has a bad seal. You can pressure test the radiator cap or just buy a new one. If this continues after you replace it - your head gaskets are leaking. Period. End of discussion. I've done a LOT of these 96 to 99 2.5's and also a couple 2.2's.... they always fail in the same way and that is the classic symptom. Exhaust gasses displace the coolant in the bottle - at some point the water pump cavitates and the temp spikes. It only gets worse - first you can drive 50 or 75 miles, then 10 or 20, then it does it within 5 to 10 minutes of startup. You can do them premtively. Couple things you should know before you tackle this to make sure you are ready: 1. Pull the engine. You will not appreciate doing them in the car and the job can't be done to my levels of cleanliness easily without pulling the engine. Most other's here agree. 2. Use ONLY Subaru gaskets obtained from a dealership. The gasket design has changed 4 times due to premature failure. Don't risk your labor over two $35 parts. 3. Be prepared for sticker shock on a valve job for these heads. The DOHC heads are basically racing heads. They are VERY expensive to work on. Typically it's $450 to $500 to rebuild/reshim a set. GD

You need a new clutch cable NOW. It will break and if you don't know how to drive it without the clutch you will be towing it home. The carb issue is probably a choke issue. Turbo springs are not much different - little bit stiffer perhaps but almost unoticeable. If you want to drop in sometime I can advise on these little issues. I have a shop in West Linn - just south of Portland. GD

What issues did you have? I have been working on and off on a big update to the SPFI conversion write-up and any input you can give on issues you have had I will try to address. I've done half a dozen of them now and I've streamlined the process in many ways. JY parts are rediculously expensive for the last couple years now - much cheaper to get this stuff from a board member parting out a car or buy a car and part it out yourself. If you like EA81's it's usually pretty useful to buy an 88 or 89 wagon with a D/R 5 speed and the SPFI. They can be had for a couple hundred wrecked, blown engine, high miles, etc. GD

There has been at least one member here that did have a smog ref pass his car with an SPFI swap to an EA81. He just told them it was an EA82 I think and once he explained it to the smog ref they certified it. With the SPFI properly installed it's hard to tell what is underneath it. Talk to a smog ref and see what they say. GD

Well - swapping the harnesses complete would probably be *more* work because they changed where the plugs are located and added another hole in the firewall where the plugs go through that attach the body harness to the manifold sub-harness. On your '90 it's next to the battery but on the '95 and up it's on the back of the engine on the passenger side - opposite the starter basically. Also other things are in radically different places - the ECU on the '90 is under the dash basically right in front of your left knee. The '95 and on cars have the ECU under the carpet on the passenger floorboard! Basically the whole wireing harness is laid out differently. I think you should rethink your approach - have you considered Megasquirt? You could whip up an adaptor that would allow you to plug into the existing ECU connector and run the car from the open-source, stand-alone MS box - then you can tune it for whatever you want. GD

Yes - for optimum performance you need the exhaust to merge fairly close to the heads - this improves scavenging and increases performance. You can split it up again after that and run dual pipes if you prefer the look, but a true dual exhaust is not beneficial for us flat-four people. It will sound nice if you build it right though . GD

You can see the hydraulic buckets if you pull off a valve cover - they don't have the lip on them where a shim would sit.... it's a farily obvious difference if you can imagine an inverted shot-glass with a round disc on the bottom - held in place by a lip around the edge of the bottom of the glass.... hydro's will just be flat with not lip and no disc. Oil pressure check is a good thing - replacing the o-ring behind the oil pump is a good idea as well. It should be noted that the ticking can be due to sitting for a prolonged period and can take several hours to dissapear on first startup... don't know how long you have run the engine but a couple oil changes and such might take care of it. GD

What exactly is this "project" and why would the metal hard lines have been removed from the intake?!? I've never taken those off. Is the engine original to the car? There were about three or four different vacuum routings over the years on the 2nd gen EJ's..... if the engine came from a different car it might not match up to anything. The trick is to follow the lines and find out what they go to and make sure everything has the vacuum signal that it needs.... GD

The wireing connector for the ECU is completely different, but in theory it should mostly work. The two primary differences besides the ECU wireing connector will be the rear O2 sensor, and the OBD-II diagnostic port itself.... and of course the pinout nightmare that's going to result when you have to swap the ECU connectors. I don't envy you on that job . I've stripped a lot of harnesses for swaps but I've never tried what you are proposing. Would be a whole lot of work. However you do it - skip the '95 ECU as it's got some real strange wireing... go to the '96 version. GD

Most liklely hydraulic. They didn't switch over to bucket/shim till '97 AFAIK. GD

Check for vacuum leaks for sure. Also might need to clean/replace the idle air control unit on the back passenger side of the manifold. Sorry about your luck with the car - but it's well known that the EJ25D has head gaskets problems and it's especially important when buying used cars to know what you are getting into. In fact it almost defeats the purpose of buying used if you don't - used cars have been well tested by the consumers and thus you actually *can* know a great deal about their reliability ratings, etc from a bit of research before buying. GD

I agree to some extent but the bearings are sealed and it's really no different than the bearings on the front of the alternator, the power steering pump, or the AC idler which are all exposed in their "natural" state. The very fact that they are sealed and running in a "dry" (without an oil bath, etc) environment seems to sugest they *are* hardened against the elements - one of which being the rubber "dust" from the belt itself..... I don't think it's a big concern for most folks that aren't going to be fording a river with their rig.... and if you keep the splash gaurds in place under the car most of the elements can't enter easily anyhow. GD